The banded cleaner squid (Utilituthis formosus) is a striking blue and black belemnoid, occupying the same niche as cleaner shrimps and wrasses in RL. The species uses hooked tentacles to groom other animals - teleosts and elasmobranchs for the most part - free of parasitic isopods and copepods. It lives in small schools, never far from the shelter of the Spec-caribbean reefs. The cleaner squid's internal shell is thin and light - the species is too quick and too useful to have many predators.

    This small belemnite lives in small schools, never far from the shelter ofb the reef, and retreats when rough weather threatens, or to avoid notice by ungrateful predators (often other cephalopods). The bullet-like shape of the animal is ideal for fitting into the crevices in the reef structure.